The Old Days
One of our local TV stations recently started running some fascinating old 30-minute black-and-white episodes of the Western anthology Death Valley Days… Brings back memories as the show was one of my favorites back in the ‘test pattern’ days.
"Death Valley Days" began in 1930 as a radio drama, and ran until 1945; then it became a television show on March 1st, 1952. It featured stories of the old American West, and had several hosts throughout the years, including Stanley (The Old Ranger) Andrews, Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor, Dale Robertson, and Merle Haggard.
Death Valley Days became the longest running, most successful, syndicated Western series of all time, with 558 episodes, before ending on August 1, 1975.
The show's sponsor was the familiar 20 mule team by the Pacific Coast Borax Company.
It’s said that the stories used in the series were based on actual events. Particularly interesting is this episode "Dear Teacher” that was broadcast in the early 1950’s — especially the way that the schoolmarm establishes order over an heretofore unruly bunch of students (excerpt attached.)
Still relevant methodology!
You can watch the entire 26-minute episode here:
-fl